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IK Partners prepares Quanos exit, Raymond James advises

Gustav Hoejmark-Jensen, Joao Grando and Kezia Joseph
15 August 2022

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IK Partners is getting ready to exit its portfolio asset Quanos Content Solutions, a German digital documents and business software provider, according to three sources familiar with the situation.

Raymond James is mandated as the sellside adviser, they said.

The process is expected to kick off in Q4, one of the sources said, adding that the business is expecting EBITDA of EUR 15m in 2022, up from between EUR 10m-EUR 12m and 30% margin in 2021. The forecasted 2022 EBITDA is above EUR 10m, a sector banker said.

Quanos focuses on digital services relating to technical documents, document storage and document layering, which includes specification descriptions to instruction manuals and service manuals in the industrial sector, one of the sources said. Many industrial players have complex document chains, the source added and said that Docufy would be a valuation comparable as it recently transacted.

Docufy was acquired by Elvaston Capital Management in an August 2021 transaction, which generated extraordinary income/disposal gains of more than EUR 20m for the seller Heidelberger Druckmaschinen, as per the announcement.

Quanos formed when IK Partners merged Schema Group, TID Informatik and Docware together in January 2020, according to Quanos’ website. IK acquired Schema Group in November 2018, TID Informatik in May 2019 and Docware in January 2020.

Schema Group was originally founded in 1995 by Marcus Kesseler and Stefan Freisler and specialised in component content management system (CCMS) and software for creating modular documentation in technical content and other editing contexts, according to IK’s announcement of the acquisition.

Quanos has 270 employees serving over 1,000 customers including MAN, Porsche, KÄRCHER, WURTH, Thyssenkrupp and ABB in Amberg, Fuerth, Inning am Ammersee and Nuremberg.

Quanos and Raymond James did not respond to requests for comment. IK Partners declined to comment.

[Editor's note: Following a post-publication request from the company, the name IK Investment Partners has been updated throughout the article to IK Partners in line with the company's rebranding.]